PR Newswire sold to Cision

January 17, 2016

PR Newswire sold to Cision

PR Newswire owned by event organiser UBM has been sold to their US based rival Cision for £554,7m

The news has taken the industry by surprise. However, UBM have gone on record to say that the sale of PR arm of their business will enable them to focus more fully on their event business. A recent release from UBM stated that, “UBM sees a good pipeline of opportunities.”

The sale is set to be completed Q1 2016, this is currently subject to regulatory approval. £245m of the sale will be returned to company shareholders via dividend. The deal is said to be structured predominantly as a cash deal with only £20 as preferred equity and the remaining £534m as cash.

Tim Cobbold, CEO of UBM recently said that the deal was “a significant step in the execution of UBM’s Events First strategy, the objective of which is to become the world’s leading focused business-to-business events business”.

Tim added that the deal was also “excellent value for our shareholders”. Analysts within the City of London have agreed with this, as its seen as a good value for the shareholders of UBM.